Combination feeder for blanks



May 5, 1925. V 1,536,799 L. E. LA BOMBARD ET AL comamnrou FEEDER FOR BLANKS Filqd July 27. 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 AND N54 V/N/i570550 THAN //v 1//v 705 s. I [627N501 EH/YBARO A 7727/?N5X L my May 5, 1925.

L. E. LA BoMBARD ET AL COMBINATION FEEDER FOR BLANKS Filed July 27. 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 3.

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Patented M i gz m COMBINATION FEEDER FOR BLANKS.

Application filed July 27, 1928. Serial No. 654,185.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, LEON E. LA BoMBAnn and MELVIN H. 'SIDEBOTHAM, citizens of the United States, and residents of Chelsea, in

I the county of chusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combination Feeders for Blanks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to mechanism for feeding flat pieces of sheet material singly, successively, and with great rapidity, to mechanism which is to act further upon them, and has particular reference to devices which feed paper blanks to machines which fold the blanks to make boxes or cartons.

Several types of machines for making paper boxes are so designed as to be capable of operating upon blanks of quite widely different characteristics. Some kinds of blanks can best be fed when taken from the top of a pile, and mechanism for so acting upon the blanks is called a top feeder. Other kinds of blanks can best befed when taken from the bottom of a pile, and mocha.

nism for doing this is called a bottom feeder.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved feeder 80 which can be used either as a to feeder or a bottom feeder by a simple ad ustment of some of the parts.

Another object is to provide such a feeder which requires no greater length of the en- 86 tire machine than that which is occupied by either a top or a bottom feeder alone.

An important feature. of our invention resides in the fact that instead of employing two different devices to enable top feeding and bottom feeding to be alternatively cflected, one of which devices performs no function when the other is in operation and one of which feeds over the other when top feeding is effected, as is the case with onev type of feeder in use for some years, we employ the same actual friction feeder to remove'blanks singly from a pile whether from the top or the bottom, by changing the direction of rotation of the friction feeder and changing its elevation.

The invention consists in the construction. and combinaton of parts substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

Suffolk and State of Massa-- gure 2 is a erslpective view of the same, portions being ro en away to avoid confusion.

Figure 3 is a similar perspective view,

but with parts adjusted for bottom feeding.

Similar reference characters designate similar parts in all of the views.

Portions of the frame of the machine are illustrated at 12. The belt or belts 13 o which the blanks are fed singl as hereinafter described, and which fbrward the blanks to the folding or other mechanism which is to treat them, are mounted at the receiving end on a drum 14 carried by a driven shaft 15 having a gear 16 at one end, said shaft being mounted in suitable bleianngs supported by the frame of the ma- C1116.

Pivotally mounted on the shaft 15 or on supports in alinement therewith is a bracket 17 which serves as a gear casing, as illustrated, and also supports one end of each, of certain other parts presently described. It is to be understood that at the other end of the shaft 15 there is a bracket of similar shape but which need not be formed as a gear casing since it only supports the other ends of said other parts which are the members 20, 26.. Each of said brackets has an arm 18, the two arms being connected by a cross bar 19.

Mounted in bearings provided in the pivoted brackets is a shaft 20 carrying one or more friction combing wheels 21, and hav-' ing a gear 22 at one end. To drive this combing wheel shaft in one direction or the other, as indicated by comparing thearrows of Figures 2 and trated is provided with means to carry either one or two pinions. As shown in Figures 1 and 2 there are two intermeshing pinions 23, 24, which mesh with and transmit motion from the gear 16 of driven shaft 15 to the gear 22 of shaft 20. When a change is to be made so as to use the parts as shown in Figure 3, one of the pinions is removed and the other, as the pinion 24, is adjusted to mesh with both of the pinions 3, the bracket 17 illus cross such for effecting top feeding, the parts occupy the relative positions shown in Figures 1 and 2. The blanks a are arranged in an overlapping pile or row on an inclined table. Said table comprises arms 27 secured to the rod 26 and connected together by suitable cross bars one of which is indicated at 28. Floor strips 29 and side walls 30 for the blanks are adjustably secured to said cross bars, as by clamps 31. Adjustably mounted on the cross rod 26, in line with the table strips 29, are retards 32 partially covered by metal strips 33. As these devices may be specifically of the kind illustrated and described in our application Serial No. 356,702, filed February 6, 1920, or of other form, and as they are not claimed herein, further description is unnecessary.

To support the table in the position shown by Figures 1 and 2, for top feeding, the arm 25 of each pivoted bracket has a strut 34 pivotally connected to it, the lower end of said strut having a slot 35 from winch several offsets extend to provide a series of shoulders 36 (Fig. 1). A pin or stud 37 fixedly supported by the frame extends into the slot. It is to be understood that a similar device is employed in connection with the companion pivoted bracket at the left side of the machine and illustration of which is omitted to avoid confusion. When one of the shoulders 36 of each of the two struts rests on the studs 37, the table is supported in more or less inclined position such as shown in Figures 1 and 2, and with the combing wheels 21 in their upper position for top feeding in the usual manner.

The reason for providing the series of shoulders 36 is to enable the brackets and the feed wheels 21 to be supported in positions intermediate those indicated in the drawings. For instance, when the mecha nism is to he used as a bottom feeder for some kinds of blanks, as presently described, it is desirable that the feed wheels shall be supported higher than indicated in Figure 3, and when used as a top feeder it is sometimes desirable that. the feed wheels shall operate in positions lower than indicated in Figure 1. To do not limit ourselves to this specific means for varying the positions of elevation of the feed wheels, as other devices than the slotted struts may be em ployed.

WVhen blanks are to be fed from the bottom of a pile, the lower ends of the struts are released from the supporting studs and either left free or upper shoulders re-engaged with said studs, so that the brackets and table may be in downwardly swung positions as indicated in Figure 3. Such change of position carries the shaft 20 and its feed wheels 21 down to a position where the upper portions of the peripheries of the wheels 21 are in position to engage the under surface of the bottom-1nost blank of a superin'iposed pile, other supports for which will be presently described. Then the hereinbefore-described-change is made in the pinions 23, 24, to effect reversal in the direction of rotation of the feed wheels, and devices are mounted on the cross bar 19 to support the pile. Said devices as illustrated comprise bars 38, 39, removably mounted on the cross bar 19 and laterally adjustable thereon, the two bars 38 having longitudinal grooves 40 along which the foot portions 41 'of side wall members 42 may be adjusted. The middle bar 39 extends nearly to a carrying belt 13 and carries a bar 43 having a roll 44 at its upperend. The two bars 39. 43, cross each other and are slotted whereby a clamping screw 45 passing through both slots enables the roll 44 to be located in any desired position vertically or toward or from the front of a pile of blanks placed thereon with the front of the bottom-most one resting on the belts 13.

As is customary in bottom feeders, means are provided to prevent more than one blank at a time from passing from the bottom of the pile which is placed between the walls 42. For this purpose a frame 46 having an abutment plate or strip 47 is provided. The notched wheels 48 are frictionally rotated so as to act to press down the front edges of the lower blanks of the pile as explained in our application Serial No. 478,846, filed June 20, 1921. Further description or illustration of the parts 46, 47, 48, will not be necessary as said parts are not claimed herein. It is sufficient to state that, as fully explained in said application 478,846, the frame 46 and the parts carried thereby are mounted to be shifted quite far to either side of the machine. Therefore, when the present mechanism is to be used for top feeding and the wheels 21 are swung to an upper position such as represented in Figures l and 2, the members 46, 47, 48, which are then not. needed, are slid aside to an outof-the-way position or could, if desired, be removed.

Having now described our invention, we claim 1. A mechanism of the character described or the other, and means for supporting sheets to be acted upon by the feeder to act on the top or bottom sheet of a pile.

or the other, means for changing the operative position of the feeder to act on the top or bottom sheet of a pile, and means for supporting sheets tobe acted upon by the' feeder.

3. A combination sheet feeder characterized by reversible means for removing sheets from the top or from the bottom of a supply stock of the sheets.

4. A mechanism of the character described having a rotary sheet feeder, means for driving the feeder in one direction or the other, means for supporting the feeder in a raised or a lowered position to act on the top or bottom sheet of a pile, and means for supporting sheets to be acted upon by the feeder.

5. A mechanism of the character described having a rotary sheet feeder, means for driving the feeder in one direction or the other,

means for supporting the feeder in a raised or a lowered position, a table movable to and from position to support sheets when the feeder is in raised position, and means whereby sheets may be supported above the feeder when the latter is in lowered position.

6. In a sheet feeding mechanism, a blankcarrying belt, a driven shafthaving a feeder, supports for said shaft pivoted to enable the shaft to be positioned above the belt or in substantially the plane thereof, and means for reversing the direction of rotation of the shaft.

7. In a sheet feedi..g mechanism, a rotary drum, a blank-carrying belt mounted there belt to act'on the top or bottom blank of a pile.

9. In mechanism of the character described, a blank-carrying belt, a rotary feeder, blank-supporting means, and means for simultaneously varying the position of the feeder and the blank-supporting means relatively to the carrying belt.

In testimony whereof we have affixed our signatures.

LEON E. LA BOMBARD. MELVIN H. SIDEBOTHAM. 

